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December 29, 2008
Web : Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
I have made abundantly clear in this blog that I have a great deal of respect for the creative genius of Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy’, Angel, Firefly, etc.). I am willing watch anything he writes because he has proven that even if the concept sounds strange, he will deliver a show that is both entertaining and thought provoking; and he is one of only 3 writers I am willing to say that about - the others being Brian Fuller (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies), and Tim Minear (Firefly – with Joss, Wonderfalls – with Brian, The Inside, and Drive).
Well, during the WGA writer’s strike last winter, when everyone was supposed to be “pencils down”, Joss and some of his friends and family found an interesting way to keep busy. As it turns out, writing for shows distributed over the internet wasn’t covered by the contract (this was in fact one of the issue behind the strike), so WGA writers were allowed by the union to work on internet content. Joss had this strange idea for a short film bouncing around in his head for a couple years, and convinced his brothers, his soon to be sister-in-law, and some actor friends to get together and make a 3 15-minute long shows to be distributed for free on the internet (and for a small fee via iTunes).
The result was “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” a musical about a guy who 1) wants to be a super-villain, and 2) is afraid to talk to the cute girl he met at the laundromat. Yes, a very strange concept. Actually a very, very strange concept; but this being Joss, he pulled it off. The shows were both funny and tragic; and the songs were wonderful (Joss was after all the guy behind the musical episode of Buffy, although his bother and soon to be sister-in-law did a lot of the song-work).
What’s more, it was an amazing success. Even though it was available for free on its own site, Dr. Horrible’ was the number one download on iTunes (where people had to pay for it) for 5 straight days. Time Magazine even declared it one of the “Best Inventions of the Year” (although I’m not sure what the “invention” was – I guess doing professional quality content for the web).
So why am I talking about Dr. Horrible now when it was released to the web in June? Because the DVD (available only through Amazon) just came out; and while I enjoyed the show on the web, the DVD put it over the top for me – thank in large part to one of the extras on the disc. The DVD comes with a standard commentary track with the writers and actors talking about making the show; but it also comes with “Commentary!: The Musical.” Yes, there is a second “commentary” track on the DVD that is a musical in its own right. Actually it isn’t so much a commentary on the show; but on the industry with songs like “Strike!”, “$10 Solo”, “The Guild--I mean—ART", “Nobody's Asian” and “Pick-A-Part.” The songs are cutting satire worth buying the DVD for on their own.
I’m starting to wish that Joss would figure out some way create a TV series that was a musical. I know Steven Bochco tried that with “Cop Rock” and it didn’t work; but I think Joss might actually be able to pull it off.
Posted by Steven at December 29, 2008 05:00 AM
